The total number of announced plant retirements nationwide is already more than triple the amount the EPA had predicted would be caused by its regulations, and studies suggest more closures are imminent. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity reports that EPA regulatory policies already have contributed to the announced retirement of more than 250 coal-fired units, totaling more than 38,000 megawatts. The North American Electric Reliability Corp. recently issued its Long-Term Reliability Assessment, which showed that plants responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s coal-fired electricity generation may be lost by 2017.

Many advocates of green energy point to the EPA’s insistence that coal gen electricity is bad for our health. But, they also acknowledge, and many advocate an increased cost in electricity. ….. for our own good, no doubt.

Of course, many of us skeptical about the the benefits of an increased cost to electricity have stated that this will have an adverse effect on the health of many people as opposed to a health benefit.

A north suburban man who died Thursday night is the sixth cold-related death of the season in Cook County.

Edwin Mason, 71, of Northbrook, was found Thursday in the 1500 block of Milwaukee Avenue in Glenview, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:24 p.m. An autopsy on Friday found that Mason died of hypothermia, caused by cold exposure, with heart disease a contributing factor, according to the medical examiner’s office. The death was ruled an accident.

Previous cold-related deaths in Cook County this season include:

• Jerzy Tarkowski, 60, found lying at the corner of Belmont and Central avenues about 1 a.m. on Jan. 4. An autopsy found he died of hypothermia brought on by cold exposure, with alcohol intoxication a contributing factor.

• Luis M. Escalante, 53, found in the 3200 block of Oakton Street in Skokie near a park at 3200 Oakton St. on Dec. 22. Escalante, of the 1800 block of West Farwell Avenue, died of cold exposure.

• Casimir Widarz, in his 60s, was found lying on the ground in the 4300 block of South Ashland Avenue on Dec. 21. The primary cause of death for Widarz, who was homeless, was heart disease with cold exposure listed as a factor.

• Thomas Grubb, 41, died from hypothermia and cold exposure on Dec. 9, according to county records. Grubb, a registered sex offender who was living on the street, was found near a UIC student center.

• Florence Hawkins, 83, was found dead at her home in the 8200 block of South Chappel Avenue on Nov. 27, the medical examiner’s office said.

Notice what the paper did? It identified the homeless street people. Presumably, the ones not identified as homeless, were not.

This escalating cost of electricity is forcing our less fortunate to choose between heat, food, and other sources of sustenance. This is the advocacy of the nutters wanting to close our coal plants. There’s no other way to look at it. We told them this would happen. They laughed. The sick bastards are laughing now. They don’t care.

For those believing that the angels of death, the EPA is doing anything to benefit us, just look at the rate of increase of our life expectancy before the EPA and then after the EPA became established.

They’re a bunch of murderous scumbags, along with their advocates and supporters. They were told, we were ignored. People continue to die because of this, and they continue to push for more expensive forms of energy and fuel. Hate isn’t a strong enough word.

Shortly after the re-election of President Obama, the agency announced new radical environmental regulations that threaten to effect people who live off the grid. The EPA’s new environmental regulations reduce the amount of airborne fine-particle matter from 15 micrograms to 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

This means that most wood burning stoves would now fall into a class that would deemed unacceptable under these new draconian measures. The EPA has even launched a nifty new website called burn wise to try to sway public opinion.